Whisper took a swig from her canteen, the cold water felt wonderful in her dried out throat, she held it in her mouth for a moment before swallowing wanting to savor the sting of its chill. She wanted to take another sip the blazing suns and scorching heat were beating down on her, but she had to ration what little she had left because chances were she would be here for another few hours.
"I hate this place" she said to herself.
Tatooine, a desert world in the Outer Rim another world currently controlled by the Empire. Intel had been obtained suggesting that a meeting of high ranking Imperials would be happening on Tatooine and Whisper was sent to observe the meeting.
"I'm not a spy meant to gather information" she told her commander, "I'm a sniper meant to kill people".
"Right now gathering information is the priority" the commander told her, "But chances are you will be tasked to take out one or two of them. Just do your job, and dress appropriately".
She would be boarding a shuttle headed to Tatooine filled with people looking for work. Her custom sniper rifle had to be disassembled and concealed in a bag in order to get past the port authorities. Aside from her rifle she had some basic equipment to help her mission, none of which would raise any suspicion, but she still had to be careful.
When the shuttle landed she grabbed her bag and filed out with the other passengers, the heat of the planet's two suns immediately bearing down on her making her sweat. Ignoring the heat for now she moved forward with the other passengers reaching the customs checkpoint of the port, chances were they would not check her bag too thoroughly from what she was told the port authorities here were pretty lax, but just in case she had a plan to cause a distraction. While no one was looking she tossed a small canister in a nearby trash bin and continued toward the customs check.
"What brings you to Tatooine Ms. Teal?" the twi'lek port worker asked checking her cover identification.
"Looking for work" Whisper replied, "I'm a mechanic".
"Tools and equipment in the bag?" he asked.
Whisper nodded without a word and the port worker motioned for her to set the bag on the table next to him so he could check it. Unzipping the large duffle bag he rifled through some of the tools, wrenches of varying sizes, a pair of hydrospanners and a hammer.
"Everything seems normal" he said before noticing another zipper line buried under the assorted tools, "What's this?"
Whisper reached her hand down to her belt buckle and pressed a switch under it. The trash bin she tossed her canister into began pillowing thick smoke before a fire started and everyone nearby began yelling. The port worker looked up to see the bin on fire and moved away yelling for everyone to stay back and keep calm, once he was a few feet away Whisper grabbed her bag and moved through the checkpoint making a beeline for the nearest crowd of people in case anyone saw her.
She heard no one call out for her to stop, but remained hidden in the crowds until she was sure it was safe. After moving around for half an hour she stepped out into the streets again and began looking around, she knew where and when the meeting would be taking place she just needed to find a good spot to observe. Ideally it would be an elevated position higher than where her targets would be, but far enough away that they couldn't see her.
She couldn't get inside the building where the meeting would be taking place, but she could get close to it. According to the Intel the meeting would be taking place on the third floor of the Czerka Administration building on the west side which faced the streets of the city. That was making it easy for her, one would think they would be smarter than that then again maybe they just wanted to gaze down at the people they saw as inferior. Whatever the reason it played to Whisper's favor, there were two buildings nearby that would give her a clear line of sight into the office where the meeting would take place now she just had to decide which one to use.
She ruled out the one directly across from the target, while its roof aligned perfectly with the Czerka building there was nothing that could provide cover for her, making her easy to spot if anyone looked out the window. The other was another block away, but well within range, a hotel of some kind. The only building just as tall as the Czerka office, but there were multiple rooms with windows she could shoot from. Most people would think snipers prefer ledges to shoot from, but in reality the best kind of sniper position to fire from inside a room through an open window, it hides the shooter, masks the report of a supersonic round and makes the muzzle flash impossible to see.
She entered the hotel to check if any of the rooms were vacant, but the only one on the third floor available was facing away from the Czerka building and out into the dunes. She tried the roof of the hotel next there were a few machines that would provide good cover making it harder to spot her, but she would not be able to get a good angle on the people in the room. She needed to think of something else, looking through her scope she rested her sights on the corner window of the office, a second window that would give her an even better line of sight, but there was nothing of good elevation for her to use. She could sneak into one of the rooms detain the occupants and go through with the mission, but she had to remain unseen.
"I might not have a choice" she said to herself.
The meeting wasn't scheduled to take place for another four hours, but that could always change so she needed to find her spot now. Of course regardless of what spot she chose the biggest obstacle to her mission would be dehydration, this was her first time in an environment like this. She had dealt with harsh environments before, humid swamps and thick jungles, but nothing like the deserts of Tatooine and the thought of the heat alone made her want something to drink. She took a swig from her canteen, the cold water felt wonderful in her dried out throat, she held it in her mouth for a moment before swallowing wanting to savor the sting of its chill. She wanted to take another sip the blazing suns and scorching heat were beating down on her, but she had to ration what little she had left because chances were she would be here for another few hours.
"I hate this place" she said to herself.
She was going to have to risk being seen, there was no other way. She could sneak into one of the rooms and knock out the occupants if they were and hopefully barricade the door, but then her only way out would be through the window. She could climb back up to the roof and hide or climb down into the streets and find somewhere to hide, but running around with a sniper rifle would draw attention leaving hiding on the roof or in the room she chose as the best options.
"I have to risk it" she thought grabbing her bag and preparing to climb down from the roof, that's when she saw it.
A sandcrawler out in the dunes heading toward the city, she could use that. The gates leading to the dunes were on the north side of the city the same direction the second window in the office was facing. The sandcrawler would most likely stop on the north side of the city so the jawas piloting it would not have to walk far, she could climb to the top of the sandcrawler and use that as her vantage point. A sandcrawler was twenty meters tall and the target office was about ten meters the elevation was a lot taller than anything else, but she would be far enough away that she could look right into the office.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder she climbed down from the roof and ran for the north gates where the sandcrawler had stopped. Slipping in with the small group of people looking to trade with the jawas she moved through the city gates and stepped away while everyone was busy engaging the jawas. Moving around to the other side of the sandcrawler she prepared to climb the side of it, but she had to make sure it would stay in its current location until her mission was complete. Getting down on her knees she crawled under the mobile fortress and using the tools in her bag began taking apart the tread locks and engine couplers and severing a few wires, rendering the sandcrawler immobile.
"That should take about two hours to fix, hopefully the jawas won't finish their business too soon".
Crawling out from under the immobile fortress she began climbing the side of it via an exhaust pipe, her bag slung over her shoulder. It took her a few minutes to reach the top, but she made it kneeling down she retrieved her scope from her bag and looked to the Czerka office, she could see the entire room from her position. The corner of her lips twitched in a quick grin as she pulled the pieces of her custom rifle out of her bag and began assembling it.
She preferred a projectile weapon to a blaster, her ammo capacity was more limited, but a projectile round could travel farther and the right kind of round could be more effective than a blaster shot. Armor piercing to take down armored targets, incendiary to cause a fire where she shot even concussive rounds to non-lethally bring a target down and then there were the different calibers projectile rounds could be made in. There was a round for any kind of situation and while it was true blaster had better ammunition efficiency and depending on the weapon their firepower varied and then there was the plasma scoring, but a target could survive severely burned skin, but a pointed projectile fired into the body at high speed could cause all kinds of internal damage. The round could hit a vital organ or shatter bone, it could go straight through the target causing it to bleed even more especially if it hit a vein or artery, or a smaller caliber could possibly tumble around after entering the body causing even more damage like internal bleeding. In the end while blasters have been around for centuries and were considered superior technology, there was no replacing or outsmarting a well placed bullet.
Assembling her rifle she pulled the bolt back and began loading the rounds and folded out the bi-pod neat the end of the rifle's barrel. Lying on her stomach she peered through her scope and watched the office window, confirming her line of sight she set a long range camera down under her rifle and aimed it at the window as well, now all she had to do was wait. Despite the merciless heat she remained patient and silent as she watched the office, in the past before her life changed her and her parents would watch the local fauna of whatever world they were on and talk about them, she missed that, having someone to talk to.
She wondered what her life would be like if her parents and Talon had survived the Empire's attack on her home. She would probably still be that innocent girl that just loved to watch animals every day, strange considering she was the daughter of two famous game hunters and she couldn't bring herself to kill the animals she saw to be so beautiful. Since that day she had no problem firing a weapon, no problem killing any imperial she placed her crosshairs on. She still couldn't stand the thought of killing any animals though, maybe that was the last shred of her innocence or past life hanging on, maybe that was her humanity regardless it wasn't something she gave much thought to because animals weren't the ones that killed her family, the imperials were so they would be the ones to die.
The hours passed by and finally she saw the door in the office open and four men entered and sat at the table in the center of the room. Through her scope and the long range camera she got pictures and tried to read the names on their uniforms before contacting her commander.
"Four targets, all in officer uniforms three males and one female. Names are Bison, Fullerton, Simmons and Burnside".
"Copy that Whisper standby".
There was silence while her commander tried to look up the names of the four targets while they both listened in on their conversation, or at least what they could hear the camera's laser mic was less effective at such a long range. What little they did hear was the mention of a new weapon and invasion plans, but their target name was not mentioned. The rest of their conversation seemed to be about how effective or costly their war effort has been recently. Whisper wrapped her finger around the trigger, she had a clear shot on each of them she could take them all down in less than six seconds, but she restrained the urge to fire, until the order was given she would hold back.
"Whisper, I think we've got all we're going to out of them. You have the go ahead to take them out, there will be a smuggler vessel landing in the next two hours, that's your extraction. The pilot's callsign is Archer he will answer to the challenge phrase 'At the end of the day, the bird returns to its next' the counter sign is 'Spread your wings'".
"Copy" Whisper said lining up her shot again and dialing up her wind gauge and distance meter, "Firing now".
Pulling the trigger the rifle recoiled and the bolt slid back ejecting the shell of its first shot. Thanks to the suppressor on the barrel's muzzle the sound of the shot was concealed enough that it couldn't be heard over the sandcrawler's engine. The bullet shattered the window finding its target in the side of his neck below his ear, Whisper could imagine her target's trachea snapping in half as the high speed projectile shot through the target's neck and passed through and into the neck of the man sitting next to him. A two for one kill and her sights moved to the next target as her first two kills fell out of their chairs, one of the remaining two was to shocked to find cover before Whisper's next shot was buried in her chest killing her instantly leaving only one left. The last officer tried to run for the door, but Whisper raised her aim and fired again watching as the round entered the back of his head causing it to snap forward, slamming into the closed door before his body bounced back and he fell to the floor.
A quick scan of the room confirmed her targets to be dead, "Kills confirmed" she said.
"Well done Whisper, clean up and get out of there".
Sliding back to her knees and getting up she disassembled her rifle and placed it back in her bag before climbing down the side of the sandcrawler. There were jawas raising a fuss about their transportation not working and one saw her climbing down and said something to her, but she didn't understand their language or cared and kept moving. Reentering the city she made her way back to the port avoiding the Czerka building, there was a minor commotion about a large amount of shattered glass that fell from the building, but so far no one seemed to know what was going on.
Returning to the space port she waited for the smuggler vessel to land and approached the pilot as he stepped off, a tall early middle aged man with a thick black beard.
"At the end of the day, the bird returns to its nest" she said to him quietly.
"Then spread your wings" he answered back.
Whisper nodded and stepped onto the ramp and into the ship.
"So you're Whisper" the smuggler said raising the ramp, "Your boss told me I'd be picking someone important up, so what's your deal?"
"Its best if you don't know" she answered quietly.
"I can see why they call you Whisper" he chuckled noting how quietly she spoke, "It'll be about three hours before we get back to your boss so if you want to nap the starboard side hold has an extra cot in it".
Whisper only nodded before grabbing her bag and walking into the starboard hold, she was always tired after an operation, but she would wait until she was back home before sleeping. For now she just went over her mission, four kills with three shots from roughly nine hundred yards was good, but not what she would consider overly impressive though her commander would say otherwise, but she was too modest to even privately praise herself. Feeling the ship lurch as it jumped to hyperspace she relaxed and started counting the time until she made it back to base.
